شريط القياس على الطاولة.

In Arabic, the present-tense to be is usually not stated.

So شريط القياس على الطاولة literally looks like:

• tape measure
• on the table

But in natural English, that becomes The tape measure is on the table.

This is a very normal Arabic pattern called a nominal sentence: a noun or noun phrase followed by information about it.

It can be understood as a full sentence.

The structure is:

• شريط القياس = the tape measure
• على الطاولة = on the table

So the second part tells you where the first part is, which makes it a complete statement.

Grammatically, this is a nominal sentence with:

• مبتدأ (topic/subject): شريط القياس
• خبر (predicate): على الطاولة

شريط القياس is an iḍāfa construction, often called a genitive construction or noun-noun construction.

Literally, it is:

• شريط = strip / tape
• القياس = the measuring / measurement

Together, it means measuring tape, or more naturally in English, tape measure.

In Arabic, this kind of construction is very common. Instead of using a separate word like of, Arabic simply puts the two nouns together:

• شريط القياس = tape of measuring

Because in an iḍāfa construction, the first noun does not take الـ.

So:

• شريط القياس = the tape measure
• not الشريط القياس

The definiteness comes from the second noun:

• القياس is definite
• therefore the whole phrase شريط القياس becomes definite

This is a very important rule in Arabic:

• first noun in iḍāfa: no ال
• second noun can be definite or indefinite
• the whole phrase gets its definiteness from the second noun

Because it is the second part of the iḍāfa and it is definite here.

Compare:

• شريط قياس = a measuring tape / measuring tape in a more indefinite sense
• شريط القياس = the tape measure

So الـ on القياس helps make the whole phrase definite.

They are pronounced differently because of moon letters and sun letters.

• القياس: the letter ق is a moon letter, so the ل is pronounced
  → al-qiyās

• الطاولة: the letter ط is a sun letter, so the ل is not pronounced, and the ط is doubled
  → aṭ-ṭāwila

So the whole sentence is pronounced approximately:

sharīṭ al-qiyās ʿalā aṭ-ṭāwila

Yes, both can relate to on / above, but they are not exactly the same.

• على usually means on, often with the idea of contact or support
• فوق means above / over / on top of, and does not always focus on contact as strongly

So for an object resting on a table, على الطاولة is the most natural choice.

• شريط القياس على الطاولة = The tape measure is on the table

You might also hear فوق الطاولة in many contexts, especially in everyday speech, but على is the standard straightforward choice.

The ة is called tāʾ marbūṭa, and it often marks a noun as feminine.

So طاولة is a feminine noun.

That does not change the meaning here very much, but it matters in other sentences, especially when adjectives or pronouns agree with it.

For example, if you described the table with an adjective, the adjective would also be feminine.

In fully vowelled MSA, the sentence would be:

شَريطُ القِياسِ على الطّاوِلَةِ

Here is why:

• شريطُ is nominative because it is the subject/topic of the nominal sentence
• القياسِ is genitive because it is the second noun in an iḍāfa construction
• الطاولةِ is genitive because it comes after the preposition على

So the endings are:

• شريطُ
• القياسِ
• الطاولةِ

In normal unvowelled writing, these endings are not shown. In everyday pronunciation, many speakers also do not fully pronounce them.

English says:

• The tape measure is on the table

Arabic here says:

• Tape measure on the table

This is normal because Arabic often uses nominal sentences with no present-tense is.

The sentence begins with the thing being talked about, شريط القياس, and then gives information about it, على الطاولة.

So the word order is very natural for Arabic, even though it looks shorter than the English version.

In this exact form, it is most naturally definite:

• شريط القياس = the tape measure

That is because القياس is definite, and the whole iḍāfa becomes definite.

If you wanted a more indefinite sense, you would usually change the noun phrase, for example:

• شريطُ قياسٍ على الطاولة = a tape measure is on the table

So the given sentence is best understood as referring to a specific tape measure.